Hello Again, Sir {s/t - complete}

What About Now?: 8.

“Does anyone know what ‘New Journalism is?”

                The class stayed silent. They were another group of mine, a first year group and every single one of them seemed to hate talking out loud.

                 “No-body?”

                  Alice stuck her hand in the air. “Yes, Alice?”

                  She coughed, looking nervous. “It was created by Truman Capote.”

                “It is true that Truman Capote recreated literature created the effects used to describe new journalism. That’s good, Alice. Can anyone tell me what piece Truman wrote than started off this new technique?”

                No-one spoke again.

                Luke coughed. “Sir, what is new journalism?”

                I wanted to see if any of the students knew what Capote had written before I told them the technique, because it would better explain the situation, but I could see it wouldn’t work. I’d just fail at the task if I didn’t explain something. “Okay.” I began. “Capote wrote a book called ‘In Cold Blood’. Have any of you heard of the piece?”

                One person, Jon, nodded. I sighed. Didn’t they teach these kids anything in school now?

“Well there was, in the New York Times, a reported murder of a Kansas family on November fifteenth, nineteen-forty-nine. Capote was a writer for a different newspaper but he was intrigued by this story. He set out to Kansas and interview people, studied the crime, and reconstructed that into a book. He turned the newspaper into a piece of journalism that showed the last few days of the Cluster family’s life and what the murders did after wards. Mr. Capote had interviewed even the murders after they were caught in real life and remembered what they had explained, adding it into his book. Now, can anybody tell me what they think new journalism is now?”

                Peter bit his lip, obviously not understanding what I was saying.

                “Sir?”

                I turned to a young boy with black rimmed glasses and brown hair. “Yes, Ayden?”

                “Can I go to the bathroom?”

                I frowned. I know teaching students wasn’t going to be flying colours, but they all looked so bored – for once – and they didn’t want to do this. I felt bad because they were doing this, but also because I was boring them. “Yes you can.”

                “Thanks.”

                I nodded. “Now look guys, the sooner we can get the definition of new journalism out of the way we can get on and read the book, do a few activities and finish this piece.”

                “Can’t we just do terminology and then Romeo and Juliet? That’s what my sister is doing.” Jaden asked.

                “Jaden, you’re sister, Gemma, she’s a second year. You’re not studying Romeo and Juliet until you get to her class. I’m sorry.”

                “Fine.”

                I turned around to the board. “Truman Capote wrote something based on fact, but was it really all fact?” I then wrote down the names of the murders, victims, writer and newspaper before looking at all the students again.